Angry father wouldn’t leave Timmins school after son refused to see him

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared police in Timmins following an incident at a Timmins school that left a man with a broken rib after he refused to leave a local school. (File)

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared police in Timmins following an incident at a Timmins school that left a man with a broken rib after he refused to leave a local school.

The man posted a video of the encounter on TikTok, accusing police of unlawfully arresting him when he was attempting to see his son at school.

However, the son had refused to see him and officials at the school called police when the man refused to leave.

The incident took place four years ago, but it wasn’t reported until September 2024 -- and the complaint was made to another agency, the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.

That complaint wasn’t dealt with because the man still had a criminal case moving through the court system.

Sustained broken ribs

“The complaint contained information that the complainant had sustained broken ribs,” the SIU said in its investigation.

The original incident took place April 11, 2022, when the man arrived at the Timmins school and said he wanted to speak with his son.

He became angry when his son refused to see him.

“The complainant attended the school and stormed past the principal in the hallway, yelling and cursing that he wanted to speak to his son,” the SIU said.

“The school went into a hold and secure mode.”

A staffer at the school called 911 and said an angry parent was refusing to leave. The man also called 911 and said the school was refusing to let him see his son.

“The dispatcher directed him to wait outside for police officers to arrive,” the SIU said.

“He said he would wait in the ‘public lobby’ and terminated the phone call.”

Police arrived and tried to place the man under arrest around 10 a.m. When he resisted, he was taken to the ground and took a knee to the ribs.

He was taken to police headquarters, charged and released on an undertaking by 11:02 a.m.

Showed medical documentation

He reported to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency on Sept. 2, 2024, that he had sustained broken ribs during his arrest in 2022.

He was eventually contacted by the SIU in March of this year and provided medical documentation that showed he had sustained a fractured rib.

The SIU investigation discovered he had posted a video to TikTok he said showed the incident.

On the video, a police officer is seen telling him that he could wait in his vehicle, but that he couldn’t stay in the school.

“I’ll wait right here, man,” the man responds.

“There’s nothing wrong. I’m just sitting here.”

The police officer is heard saying he would ask him to leave “one final time.”

When told to put his hands behind his back, the man responds, “No … I’m just sitting here.”

The view of the camera is obscured, but the police officer is heard saying, “Stop resisting” several times.

“The video of the incident ended after 34 seconds but overlaid text continued to appear,” the SIU investigation said.

“The text read, ‘Thrown to the ground punched in the face kneed broken ribs.’ The text then listed the complainant’s charges.”

In his analysis, SIU director Joseph Martino said there were no grounds to charge Timmins police.

The man was trespassing on school property and had refused to leave multiple times when asked by staff and police. While the man insisted he didn’t resist arrest, that account is refuted by civilian and police witnesses to the scene.

“The complainant did, in fact, struggle on the floor against the officers’ efforts to control his arms, and was met with a knee strike to the torso,” Martino wrote.

“I am unable to reasonably conclude that a knee strike in these circumstances constitutes excessive force.”

Read the full decision here.